December 29, 2015 – The year is almost done and as it comes to a close, as usual, I tend to get a bit reflective on what the past year has brought, and what might transpire in the coming one.
When I look back through my images I see a busy year. Travel, work, laughter, rage, love, loss. I see thoughts on economics, on the environment, on politics, and on religion. I see both happiness and sadness. But that’s normal I suppose.
Life is always a roller coaster, particularly when you are an emotional individual who puts heart into most things. It’s the degree of those dips and rises, and the relative impact on one’s life that are of consequence.
It’s all about how flexible you are in the winds of life.
Too rigid and you will snap.
Today was a perfect day to wander the Dundarave seawall and suck up the warmth of an unexpectedly wonderful day. A few days ago the weather report indicated it was going to be a wet weak, but then something shifted and a strong high pressure system settled over the area and it looks like we will have this for a few days.
Works for me.
How can one not marvel and the beauty of this place when it provides so much of everything. Sure, it can be wet and, to some, miserable, but that’s also why we have such fantastic forests, dripping with mosses and deep with silent loamy floors.
And palm trees.
We even have palm trees that survive the occasional drops below -10C. Rare, but they do happen, and windmill palms put up with it.
I don’t plan on doing a 365 Photo project in 2016. This one was hard enough to drag my ass through for the past three months. I’m not superstitious, I don’t believe in signs, I don’t believe in anything supernatural, I don’t believe that bad things come in threes. But it’s hard to ignore the fact that the last two times I’ve done one of these things, I’ve lost a parent near the end.
Yes, clearly I’m out of parents so that shouldn’t stop me.
That’s not the point.
The point is that I’m feeling tired and dragged out. I want to pick up the camera because I want to pick up the camera, not because I feel an obligation to finish something I’ve started. I’m stubborn, I do what I say I will do, and I rarely haven’t finished whatever it is that I start. But this was the fourth 365 I’ve completed, and it was feeling somewhat forced by the end. Someone said that “Your first 10,000 photos are your worst”. I want to be able to shoot photos and if, at the end of the day, I hate them all, then I want to feel free to close the computer and not post anything at all.
I want to feel that I can just sit and stare at the wonder of the world in front of me and not feel compelled to record it anywhere but my mind sometimes.
So no 365 Project, no 52 Weeks, but I will take on the 116 Photos in 2016 scavenger hunt, that is always a fun project and one that can involve some entertaining stretches where interpretation of the topic is concerned. I only have one more photo to take to complete the 115 Photos in 2015 project.
I will still share the images that I make of the world, and my thoughts on random things. If we travel, I’ll share our adventures, life’s rarely boring when we wander.
And when I can’t keep my trap shut on some subject that puts a bug up my ass, well, I’ll probably share that too. And I’ll try to keep it all going with a positive spin, though sometimes that seems impossible.
I never make New Year’s Resolutions, I tend to consider them as setting oneself up for failure. But as the year draws to a conclusion, I do share the sentiment of this father and daughter on the beach (below)….Happy 2016 everyone, may it be all that you wish for, and may it bring health, happiness, love, and grand new adventures.
Cheers,
Paige
31 comments
They also added this photo to their favourites
This is a wonderful shot !